Overview

Enteral nutrition, also known as tube feeding, is a way of sending nutrition right to the stomach or small intestine. Your healthcare professional might suggest tube feeding if you can't eat or drink enough to get the nutrients you need.

Tube feeding outside a hospital is called home enteral nutrition (HEN). A HEN care team can teach you how to feed yourself through a tube. The team can give you support when you have problems.

HEN might be for you if you have trouble eating, but your digestive system works as usual. Reasons you might have trouble eating include:

Cancer, such as head and neck cancers, or cancer treatment that makes it hard or painful to swallow.
Problems of the brain or spinal cord, also called neurological. Examples include stroke and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Problems of the stomach and intestines. Examples are delayed gastric emptying, also called gastroparesis, or something blocking your bowel, called an obstruction.
Trauma, such as an injury to your digestive tract.

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Why it's done

You might have home enteral nutrition, also called tube feeding, if you can't eat enough to get the nutrients you need.

Types of feeding tubes

Feeding tubes deliver liquid nutrition directly to your stomach or small intestine. Options may include:

Feeding tube passed through the nose. If you'll need a short-term feeding tube, your healthcare professional might suggest the type that goes through your nose and into your stomach. This is called a nasogastric tube.

Or you might have a tube go through your nose and into your small intestine. This is called a nasojejunal tube.
Feeding tube passed through the skin on your belly. If you'll need tube feeding longer, your healthcare professional might suggest putting a tube through the skin on your belly and into your stomach. This is called a gastrostomy.

Or the tube can go into your small intestine. This is called a jejunostomy.

Your healthcare professional will talk to you about which type of tube is best for you.

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By Mayo Clinic Staff

Home enteral nutrition care at Mayo Clinic

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Doctors & Departments

Feb. 16, 2024

ACI Nutrition Network: Guidelines for home enteral nutrition (HEN) services. 2nd Edition. NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation. https://www.aci.health.nsw.gov.au/resources/nutrition/hen/hen-clinicians. Accessed Aug. 11, 2023.
Bering J, et al. Home parenteral and enteral nutrition. Nutrients. 2022; doi:10.3390/nu14132558.
Bischoff SC, et al. ESPEN practical guideline: Home enteral nutrition. Clinical Nutrition. 2022; doi:10.1016/j.clnu.2021.10.018.
Epp LM (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic. Aug. 11, 2023.

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